Firefighters Tackle Huge Blaze At Sheffield Plastics Factory

Smoke rises from a huge blaze at a plastics factory in the Attercliffe area of Sheffield

Around 50 firefighters are tackling a "huge blaze" at a plastics factory, a fire service has said.

Ten fire appliances were called to the fire at the plastics factory on Foley Street in the Attercliffe area of Sheffield around 2.30pm.

Early reports are that the fire initially involved nearby refuse and spread to the factory, involving around 20 tonnes of plastic, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

There are no reports of any casualties but a large plume of black smoke is spreading across the local area, and local people are advised to go indoors and keep their doors and windows closed.

South Yorkshire Police said road closures were in place around the area as firefighters tackled the blaze.

According to the fire service's Twitter page, a high-volume pump was at the scene to try to get as much water on the fire as soon as possible, and a second had been requested.

Commenting on the Twitter page, a post from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service said its officers were assisting with the fire and smoke had been seen as far away as Ripley in Derbyshire.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said there were this evening still ten appliances, plus a high volume pump and aerial ladder platform at the incident, but commander Rick Rolt said it may be possible to scale back operations later this evening.

He said: "We're likely to be turning the plastics over and damping down for days but we've just got monitor jets on the fire now so we may be able to scale back later.

"The crews have done an absolutely fantastic job.

"We were really worried about the fire spreading to neighbouring buildings such as Veolia. Then there would have been lots of potentially hazardous problems and we'd have been looking at evacuations. But the crews put some fire breaks in to stop the fire spreading, and they managed to contain it to the premise involved."